The Red Dwarf Thread

[Benji]

Anyone catch the first episode of series 10 last night? I thought it was a fun, not quite up to full quirky RD speed, but an enjoyable official return for the crew.

I've been watching the earlier series's on DAVE as of late, forgot how awkward series 1 was, and how much of a massive jump series 2 was in quality, though I never feel the crew is quite complete until Kryten joins.

[GoGo Yubari]

I finished season 5 at the tail end of King of Trios weekend a couple weeks ago. There's definitely a major jump in quality around season 2, and then I think another one at season 3. 3 and 4 are both pretty fantastic (4's final episode with the replica historical figures doing battle is fantastic), with 5 as a bit of a step down but still a decidedly good show.

Gonna be a long while before I get to the new stuff, though.

[Skummy]

It was better than I expected, but I'm still not sure about it. I don't think Red Dwarf's aged well, for the most part, and it seems almost tragic to keep making the cast go through the motions. Though they definitely seemed to be enjoying themselves more than they did in Back To Earth (and who can blame them?).

I didn't see all of it, so maybe I missed something at the start of the episode, but I don't like how it doesn't follow on from the end of the last series, it just seems to be "remember this, guys?!" rather than having any sense of continuity.

[Stevie B]

I'm sure they will start to tie up a few loose ends in the next few episodes. Read somewhere last night that this episode was just supposed to be a fun introduction back for the guys, and next weeks episode will be progressively better.

Wasn't exactly expecting much, but it was good for what it was.

[KONGO]

I haven't seen this new one but I'm excited to. I'm with Skummy about Red Dwarf for the most part. When I first saw it it was one of my favorite shows, but on subsequent views it's kind of lost its luster. It's still enjoyable but I use it more like late night distracted viewing as opposed to something I'll sit down and really want to laugh along to like Yes, Minister. I'm a big fan of the first two seasons, though, and if Kryten wasn't so awesome I would say they should have stuck to that format. 3 & 4 was actually pretty much that, things started sliding around the time they start the monster of the week stuff, though that's still fun.

But yeah, really do want to see this new series, hope it stays good.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I LOVED Red Dwarf growing up. BBC2 at 9pm or 9.30....Lovely. Series 6 and 4 are definitely the best but there's some great stuff in Series 2 as well ...and really good stuff in every series, at least up to six. Seven was decent enough but eight and nine weren't great at all.

It hasn't aged amazingly though. It still makes me smile but not laugh like I used to. Much like Spaced really - when I first saw it while I was at uni it was the best thing ever, but now watching back it isn't quite at the same heights.

I will hunt down the new Red Dwarf though, even if out of old-school respect for it.

[Noah]

I agree the quality overall, wasn't there in the last few seasons but I still enjoy the show now as much as I did when it was new.

[Hobo]

I didn't see all of it, so maybe I missed something at the start of the episode, but I don't like how it doesn't follow on from the end of the last series, it just seems to be "remember this, guys?!" rather than having any sense of continuity.

Wasn't that explained in Back To Earth? Which is 'series 9' apparently.

Not seen the new one yet. Not sure if I want to. I'm sure I will though.

[Gazz]

It was better than I expected, but I'm still not sure about it. I don't think Red Dwarf's aged well, for the most part, and it seems almost tragic to keep making the cast go through the motions. Though they definitely seemed to be enjoying themselves more than they did in Back To Earth (and who can blame them?).

I didn't see all of it, so maybe I missed something at the start of the episode, but I don't like how it doesn't follow on from the end of the last series, it just seems to be "remember this, guys?!" rather than having any sense of continuity.

Series IX spoilers

The whole 'Back to Earth' thing was a group hallucination brought on by a despair squid.

[stokeriño]

Actual Series IX spoilers

Stokerina appears as an extra in the background when the crew are in John Lewis. Due to film editing and/or a time paradox, she tries out the same piece of furniture at least two or three times.

Have recorded the new episode of RDX but not watched it yet. I have no expectations beyond it being mildly diverting, so it should hopefully not disappoint.

[Colly]

I think I'm in the minority of actually preferring the first series for its 'character sitcom that just happens to be in space' feel (series 2 too to a lesser extent (2 too to!)) rather than the scifi sitcom it became later on, and I certainly feel those early Lister and Rimmers relationship episodes stand up better over time.

Still liked it til the cliffhanger ending of series 6, everything after that was absolutely awful. Am I right in saying one half of the writing team left at that point? Explains a lot as it suddenly went far more wacky scifi than good comedy.

Not watched the newie yet but its Sky+'d, not in any panic to watch though and this is from someone who had a smeghead t shirt as a ten year old.

[MDK]

Just watched the new episode and I enjoyed it.

I never thought I would say that.

[Hobo]

I watched it. S'alright. I laughed once or twice.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

I seem to agree with the general consensus: The episode itself, while not spectacular was good and was much better than the Back to Earth specials; and the older series of Red Dwarf as a whole haven't aged particularly well. There are still the odd episodes that are guaranteed to make me laugh all the way through, but much more of it just doesn't stand up to repeat viewings.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Colly, the main selling point for Red Dwarf was sit-com in space rather than sci-fi. That's partly why the last couple of series weren't so good - they focussed too much on the sci-fi element as their budget got higher.

[Colly]

The other part being that they were just fucking awful.

I actually didn't mind that new one, I've given up on trying to follow the storyline but some of the jokes were okay (the moose setpiece in particular). A fair few fell completely flat (isn't being on hold annoyingly hilarious?!? Just like when they did it on Friends probably around the time Red Dwarf was still must watch?) but I'll give it a few more episodes, even though the trailer for next weeks does look like an actiony mess.

Daft point, but have they even made a jokey reference to the fact Rimmer keeps aging? Everyone looks properly haggard, which in fairness they are (Danny John-Jules tends to play old characters elsewhere these days) but surely he's not meant to. Also, Krytens mask looks terrible!

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I'm sure Rimmer's ageing was mentioned somewhere (though maybe only in a newspaper article a while back) about the software getting corrupted or something.

[Colly]

That'll do for me.

[Cactus Drags]

I enjoyed it. It wasn't great, but it didn't feel like a horrendous cash-in where everyone's just going through the motions, they seemed to genuinely be into it. Which is good. I started watching the older stuff on Lovefilm Instant the other night, and yeah, first series isn't as strong as I'd remembered (although that's perhaps due to me originally watching the first few series in a relatively short time), but still pretty funny.

[DFF]

I thought the new episode was 'good', which was a pleasant surprise. I never saw the 'Back to Earth 'specials, but heard that they were terrible so didn't have high hopes for this.